Reaching for the heavens: Fred Simmons, Cleveland County aviation pioneer, dies at 99

Monday

Dec 15, 2014 at 12:01 AMDec 15, 2014 at 5:49 PM

Casey White

Fred Simmons, a pioneer of the Shelby Airport, recently passed away at 99 years old, leaving behind a history and legacy with deep roots in Cleveland County.

Although Simmons’ career was in architecture and engineering, his daughter Suzanne Simmons said his heart was always in aviation. She said her father was a pilot long before the Shelby Airport was built and that he was involved with its creation since day one.

“Daddy was flying before that airport was even someone’s dream,” Suzanne Simmons said. “The very first little airport terminal, daddy designed that building.”

Long before the Shelby Airport existed, Simmons flew in a group of barnstormers, or stunt pilots, called the Four Aces. The four pilots switched between flying the biplanes and wing-walking during flight shows, where they would walk out on the wings of planes without any harness or support while they were in flight.

Suzanne Simmons said her father was always a daredevil, a fact that his longtime friend and flying buddy Bob Cabaniss was quick to back up. On their first flight together, before knowing each other well, Cabaniss said Simmons cut the plane loose and almost turned it upside down.

“I thought ‘this guy is crazy.’ But he wasn’t crazy, he was just a tremendous pilot,” Cabaniss said.

Later Cabaniss experienced his first flip in a plane with Simmons piloting. Experiences like that gave a peek into Simmons’ earlier life as a stunt pilot, which Cabaniss said Simmons was known to be humble about.

“He wasn’t one of these people who said ‘oh I’m better than you are because I’ve done this.’ You almost had to pull it out of him,” Cabaniss said.

Suzanne Simmons said her father’s interest in planes was present ever since he was a child in Cleveland County.

In 1931 when the Kings Mountain National Park was being dedicated by President Herbert Hoover, Simmons attended the event and couldn’t remember a word of Hoover’s speech. All he could remember was the different types of airplanes he saw fly above and land in the surrounding area.

Aviation isn’t the only area Simmons left his mark on in the county. In his career as an architect, he designed Cleveland County Social Services building, several churches and much more.

“I like to think that through the churches, through the homes and through the buildings he’s done, they’re monuments left behind, something solid and tangible, to remember him,” Suzanne Simmons said.

According to his daughter, Simmons was always on the cutting edge of architecture. He was involved with designing one of the first buildings to ever include escalators and his use of pre-stressed concrete also gained one of his buildings notoriety.

As a general contractor, Doug Atchley worked with Simmons for many years and the two formed a close friendship.

“He was probably the most interesting person in the world that I have come in contact with,” Atchley said.

According to Atchley, Simmons was unlike most architects he worked with. Simmons rarely used a calculator and did everything by hand without the help of computers, but he was always able to overcome any problem he encountered, Atchley said.

Suzanne Simmons said her father’s architecture was largely inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright, who he got a chance to meet while he was studying architecture at N.C. State University in the 1930s. She said she was always impressed that her father got a chance to meet one of the world’s most renowned architects.

“In more recent years I took daddy to visit some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings out west and down in Florida so he’d have a chance to see and connect with those in person,” Suzanne Simmons said.

On that trip, Suzanne Simmons said she realized how many elements of Wright’s architecture her father used in his own designs in places like their family home in Polkville. Atchley said the first thing he noticed when he went to the Simmons’ home for the first time was the similarities to Wright’s work.

Another important component to Simmons’ life was his involvement in scouting, his daughter said. After joining the Boy Scouts in 1928, Simmons completed the program as an Eagle Scout in 1933, with 65 badges.

Before his passing at 99 years old, Simmons was the oldest living Eagle Scout in the Piedmont Boy Scout Council that serves Cleveland County.

Although he never lived to be 100 years old, Suzanne Simmons said her father always said he was working on his 100th year. Since his birth on Jan. 21, 1915, he got to experience and celebrate holidays like Easter and Thanksgiving 100 times.

Harvey Horn was Simmons’ second cousin, but he always called him “Uncle Fred.” Horn thinks Simmons’ long life is a testament to who he was.

“He was a fighter,” Horn said. “Living to be 99, tells you a lot about him.”

Even days before passing, Suzanne Simmons said her father never lost interest in the planes. One of his favorite pastimes was to look at the sky and track planes as they flew by.

“He would always say ‘Well he’s a way up high, headed over yonder,” Suzanne Simmons said. “And that’s a good epitaph for my daddy. As amazing as he was as an architecture and an engineer, his heart was always in the heavens.”